Remembering Yesteryear
When I look around me today and see a world so often out of control, where responsibility for mistakes or problems seems so rarely acknowledged, I wonder if lessons like the one that just came to mind have been lost. Perhaps they've been excused by the rush of modern life, or by a lack of learning from the past.
Today, I am sharing a memory of a simpler time, more kindness and cooperation, without expecting return for any of it. A time when a child's actions were corrected with positive response, not anger.
As a young child, I remember picking sunflowers from a neighbour's garden because they were over the fence into our yard. I did not know better.
But, I also remember my father taking me over to the neighbour's to apologize, with the sunflowers in hand. He lectured me, "Just because it is over the fence does not make it ours." Then, he knocked on the door and the elderly gentleman answered. My father made me tell him and show him what I had done, and return his sunflowers. I was so scared to be honest.
The gentleman made a deal with me, there with my father beside me, "If the plant grows over the fence, you can have your sunflowers. But, please do not come into the garden. If you do wish something else from the garden, come knock at the door and ask if I, or my wife, could get it for you?"
I have never forgotten that lesson, nor his kindness.
In a world where so many mistakes are dismissed or blamed, this moment reminds me that responsibility, when taught with kindness, can become a gift, not just to the child, but to the entire community.
What would you do if a neighbour, with child in tow, presented this situation to you? Would you be upset? Angry? Or would you be kind and understanding?